Google to buy Valve — Austin GDC 2008 Steaming away — WELL PLACED SOURCES tell us that Google is going to be buying Valve any second now. If you have to stop and think about why, you probably are not aware of Steam, Valve's amazing content distribution platform.

Popular Canon SD870 IS gets fresh — The most exciting thing about the new Canon PowerShot SD880 IS Digital ELPH camera is that it's an update to the really popular SD870 IS. However, that doesn't mean Canon didn't try to improve on its past success. — The new model features …

Tech Guru Riles the Industry By Seeking Huge Patent Fees — Millionaire Nathan Myhrvold, renowned in the computer industry as a Renaissance man, has a less lofty message for tech companies these days: Pay up. — Over the past few years, the former Microsoft Corp. executive has quietly amassed …

Windows 7 hits Milestone 3 — I have seen the future — specifically Windows 7 Milestone 3 (Build 6780). — I got a gander at the latest test build of Windows 7 briefly (courtesy of a source of mine) and was not allowed to take any screenshots. But it is real, it does exist and it is …

Windows 7 Paint and WordPad: New UI, New Functionality — UPDATE: If you're coming to this page via a direct link, I've since received a screenshot I could make public. Scroll up and click “Start”. It'll take you to my main page. — Yes, both Paint and WordPad have finally received the royal treatment.

Verizon Wireless Going Contract-Free? — According to an inside source, it looks like Verizon Wireless will be offering contract-free services as of September 21. Much like T-Mobile's FlexPay, the option will be available to those who pay full, unsubsidized prices for phones or for folks who want to bring in their own devices.

Can games make your kid a better citizen? — Study: Game experiences can provide hands-on learning opportunities — Can playing “Madden” or “World of Warcraft” encourage your kid to be more engaged in public life? Believe it or not, yes. — Parents of video-gaming children, take heart …

Two New Visual Tools To Make Craigslist Even Better — We've come across two new services that help make perusing Craigslist even easier by focusing on the images that are included with many listings. Craigslist notes which listings have images attached to them, but you must click through to the listing to actually see them.

Google's 12 Hour (and counting) Custom Search Outage — Google's Custom Search product, a customizable search engine for sites, has been down for at least some users for more than twelve hours. The popular service lets websites tailor Google search results and customize the results screen for their own look and feel.

Google opening Lively to game developers — It was a surprisingly lightly attended session that initiated Austin GDC's WorldsInMotion virtual worlds focused conference track - surprising because you'd imagine that the entrance of a company with the massive resources and cultural ubiquity …

HTC's Touch Diamond is all-white — “Ice Ice Baby...” — HTC has announced three phones yesterday: the Touch HD, the Touch 3G and the Touch Viva. But it rounded the day off by adding a fresh lick of paint to one of its older phones. — HTC's Touch Diamond, in white